Cornelis Corneliszoon

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Cornelis Corneliszoon (c. 1550 - c. 1600) was the inventor of the sawmill.

Corneliszoon was born in Uitgeest, The Netherlands. His wind-powered sawmill used a crankshaft to convert a windmill's circular motion into a back-and-forward motion powering the saw. This allowed wood to be cut at high precision and at a much faster rate (30 times faster) than could be achieved manually.

In 1594 Corneliszoon built the first sawmill, a small mill which floated on a raft. In 1595 the mill was sold and moved to Alkmaar. The remains of the mill were accidentally discovered in 2004 during excavations along the Noordhollandsch Kanaal canal.

Corneliszoon was granted a patent on his crankshaft invention in 1597. His sawmill soon developed into a more advanced version, the paltrokmolen (post mill), which played a key part in the economic success of the Dutch Republic during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th Century by enabling the mass construction of ships for overseas trade. The mill turned the Zaan district, north of Amsterdam, into the world's first industrial area.

In addition to inventing the sawmill, Cornelis Corneliszoon also held various other mill-related patents, including an early version of a centrifugal pump. A sawyer who specialized in building windmills, he was married to Trijn Pieters, daughter of the miller of flour mill "De Krijger" on the Meldijk in Uitgeest. It is not known when exactly he died; it was sometime between 1600 and 1607. A street in Uitgeest is named for him.